Arlene Dahl
{{short description|American actress (1925–2021)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Arlene Dahl - 1953.JPG
| name = Arlene Dahl
| caption = Dahl in 1953
| birth_name = Arlene Carol Dahl
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|8|11}}
| birth_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|29|1925|8|11}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|businesswoman|author}}
| years_active = 1944–2012
| alma_mater =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Lex Barker|1951|1952|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Fernando Lamas|1954|1960|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Christian R. Holmes|1960|1964|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Alexis Lichine|1964|1969|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Rounsevelle W. Schaum|1969|1976|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Marc Rosen
|1984}}
}}
| children = 3, including Lorenzo Lamas
| relations = AJ Lamas (grandson)
Shayne Lamas (granddaughter)
}}
Arlene Carol Dahl (August 11, 1925 – November 29, 2021) was an American actress active in films from the late 1940s. Born in Minnesota to parents of Norwegian descent, Dahl started her acting career in musicals before transitioning to film, where she gained significant roles in MGM productions such as My Wild Irish Rose (1947) and The Bride Goes Wild (1948). She also starred in adventure films, notably Caribbean Gold (1952) and Desert Legion (1953).
Dahl was also an entrepreneur, founding two companies, Arlene Dahl Enterprises and Dahlia, a fragrance company. Despite her acting success, she faced financial challenges, declaring bankruptcy in 1981. She then entered the field of astrology, writing a syndicated column and operating a premium phoneline company. She also wrote numerous books on beauty and astrology.
In her personal life, Dahl had six husbands, including actors Lex Barker and Fernando Lamas, and was the mother to three children, the eldest of whom is actor Lorenzo Lamas. She lived between New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida, until her death in 2021.
Early life
Dahl was born on August 11, 1925, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Idelle ({{née|Swan}}) and Rudolph Dahl, a Ford Motor dealer and executive.{{Citation needed |date=May 2023}} Her parents were both of Norwegian descent.{{Cite web |last1=Byrge |first1=Duane |last2=Barnes |first2=Mike |date=2021-11-29 |title=Arlene Dahl, Actress Who Made Beauty Her Business, Dies at 96 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/arlene-dahl-dead-journey-center-earth-1235054140/ |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}} She cited her year of birth as 1928, although her birth record (1925-43442, available through the Minnesota Historical Society) shows she was born on August 11, 1925. An August 13, 2014, article in the New York Social Diary by David Patrick Columbia, titled "Losses and Gains", references her 89th birthday celebration with her husband, children, and family.
As a child, Dahl took elocution and dancing lessons and was active in theatrical events at Margaret Fuller Elementary School, Ramsey Junior High School, and Washburn Senior High School. After graduating from high school, she performed in a local drama group and briefly worked as a model for department stores. Dahl's mother was involved in local amateur theatre. Dahl briefly attended the University of Minnesota.{{cite news |title=Arlene Dahl |work=Chicago Daily Tribune |first=Freida |last=Zylstra |page=B11 |date=October 17, 1948}}
Acting career
=Early career=
A year after graduation from high school, Dahl lived in Chicago, where she worked as a buyer for Marshall and Brown. She then traveled to New York and worked as a model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency,{{Cite news|last=Pieck|first=Kaaren|date=Oct 1950|title=Lucky Dahl|page=59|work=Modern Screen}} where she successfully auditioned for a part in the musical Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston in 1945. This led to her gaining the lead in another play, Questionable Ladies, which was seen by a talent scout from Hollywood.
Dahl had an uncredited bit part in Life with Father (1947). She was promoted to leading lady in My Wild Irish Rose (1947) with Dennis Morgan, a big hit that led to an offer from MGM for a long-term contract.
=MGM=
Dahl began working for MGM to play a supporting role in her first film, The Bride Goes Wild (1948), starring Van Johnson and June Allyson.{{Cite web |last=Saperstein |first=Pat |date=2021-11-29 |title=Arlene Dahl, Actress in 'One Life to Live,' 'Journey to the Center of the Earth,' Dies at 96 |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/arlene-dahl-dead-one-life-to-live-lorenzo-lamas-1235121434/ |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} She remained there to play the female lead in the Red Skelton comedy A Southern Yankee (1948).
Eagle-Lion hired her to star as the female lead in Reign of Terror (1949). Then at MGM, she acted opposite Van Johnson in Scene of the Crime (1949); Robert Taylor in Ambush (1950); Joel McCrea in The Outriders (1950); Fred Astaire and Skelton in Three Little Words (1950), playing Eileen Percy; and Skelton again in Watch the Birdie (1950). Except for The Outriders, all these movies were profitable for MGM.{{cite magazine |title=The Life Story of Arlene Dahl |magazine=Picture Show |location=London |volume=60 |issue=1570 |page=12 |date=May 2, 1953}}
MGM gave Dahl the lead in several B movies, such as Inside Straight (1951) and No Questions Asked (1951), both of which flopped.{{cite book |title=Eddie Mannix ledger |location=Los Angeles |date=1962 |oclc=801258228}}
=Adventure films=
File:Arlene Dahl and Fernando Lamas by Virgil Apger, 1954.jpg, by Virgil Apger, 1954]]
Dahl was hired by Pine-Thomas Productions to a multi-picture contract. She was cast in Caribbean Gold (1952), a swashbuckler starring John Payne.{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131644637 |title=Arlene Dahl: A beauty in three dimensions |newspaper=The World's News |location=New South Wales, Australia |via=National Library of Australia |issue=2699 |page=29 |date=September 12, 1953 |access-date=June 15, 2018}}
She went to Universal-International to co-star with Alan Ladd in a French Foreign Legion story, Desert Legion (1953); then Pine-Thomas used her again in Jamaica Run (1953) and Sangaree (1953). The latter starred Fernando Lamas, whom Dahl would marry.
She supported Bob Hope in the comedy Here Come the Girls (1953). Dahl and Lamas reunited on The Diamond Queen (1953) at Warner Bros.{{cite news |title=Roland Rival of Lamas |work=Los Angeles Times |page=B9 |date=February 4, 1953}}
In 1953, Dahl played Roxanne on stage in a short-lived revival of Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jose Ferrer.
Dahl played the ambitious Carol Talbot in Woman's World (1954) at Fox, and she was Rock Hudson's leading lady in Universal's adventure war film Bengal Brigade (1954).
She began writing a syndicated beauty column in 1952, and opened Arlene Dahl Enterprises in 1954, marketing cosmetics and designer lingerie.
Dahl began appearing on television, including episodes of Lux Video Theatre (including a 1954 adaptation of Casablanca, wherein she played Ilsa) and The Ford Television Theatre.{{cite news |title=Arlene Dahl Slated |work=Chicago Daily Tribune |page=SW19 |date=February 27, 1955}}
Dahl was both a mystery guest (April 25, 1954) and a panelist on the CBS game show What's My Line?. In 1953, she hosted ABC's anthology series The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse.
John Payne and Dahl were reunited in a film noir, Slightly Scarlet (1956), alongside Rhonda Fleming, another red-haired star.
Dahl made some films in England for Columbia: Wicked as They Come (1956) and Fortune Is a Woman (1957). In 1957, she sued Columbia for $1 million, saying the film's advertisements for Wicked as They Come were "lewd" and "degraded" her. A judge threw out the suit.{{cite news |title=Judge Throws Out Arlene Dahl's Suit |work=The Washington Post and Times-Herald |page=B15 |date=August 27, 1957}}{{cite news |title=Judge Says Arlene Dahl Looks Better on Film: Jurist, Hearing Her Suit Against Studio, Also Disagrees With Her 'Lewd' Charges |work=Los Angeles Times |page=2 |date=May 2, 1957}}
Dahl hosted the short-lived television series Opening Night (1958) and had the female lead in the adventure movie Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), opposite James Mason and Pat Boone. She fainted from doing the whirlpool scene in the latter,{{cite news |title=Arlene Dahl Faints on Set |work=The New York Times |page=35 |date=August 25, 1959}} but it turned out to be one of her most successful films.
=1960s=
In 1960, she appeared in the TV series Riverboat in the role of Lucy Belle in the episode "That Taylor Affair". The same year, she married Texas oilman Christian Holmes and announced her retirement from acting. The marriage did not last, but Dahl increasingly diversified her work to become a lecturer and beauty consultant while she continued acting.{{cite news |title=Hollywood Today: Arlene Dahl: Beauty Is Her Business |work=Chicago Tribune |first=Norma Lee |last=Browning |page=SC12 |date=May 3, 1970}}
She had a supporting role in Kisses for My President (1964) and appeared in Land Raiders (1969), The Pleasure Pit (1969), and the French film Du blé en liasses.{{cite news |title=Bankroll' Casts Arlene Dahl |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Betty |last=Martin |page=H17 |date=October 10, 1969}} She also appeared on TV in Burke's Law and Theatre of Stars.
Her focus by now was on business. After closing her company in 1967, she began serving as vice president at the ad agency Kenyon and Eckhardt that same year. In a 1969 interview, she said her old films were "such an embarrassment".{{cite news |title=Star, vice-president, columnist: Timeri Murari interviews Arlene Dahl |work=The Guardian |page=9 |date=April 21, 1969}}
=1970s=
Dahl also returned to Broadway in the early 1970s, replacing Lauren Bacall in the role of Margo Channing in Applause.
On television, she had a role on the soap opera One Life to Live and guest-starred on Love, American Style, Jigsaw John, Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat. She also made a TV movie, The Deadly Dream (1971). "I like acting," she said in 1978, "but I had better like business better or I'll lose my shirt."{{cite news |title=Arlene Dahl's Sweet Smell of Success |work=Los Angeles Times |page=C1 |date=March 29, 1978}}
=1980s and 1990s=
In 1981, Dahl declared personal bankruptcy, with liabilities of almost $1 million and assets of only $623,970. Her chief creditor was the U.S. Small Business Administration, which guaranteed a $450,000 loan for her as an executive in a cosmetic firm. She had lost $163,000 from burglaries of jewelry and furs from her Manhattan apartment, and she earned only $11,367 in 1980 and $10,517 in 1979.{{cite news |title=Arlene Dahl goes bankrupt |work=The Globe and Mail |page=19 |date=November 11, 1981}}
Dahl appeared on ABC's soap opera One Life to Live from 1981 to 1984 as Lucinda Schenck Wilson. The character was planned as a short-term role (she guest-starred from late 1981 to early 1982 and in late 1982), but Dahl later was offered a one-year contract to appear on the series from September 1983 to October 1984. In 1988, she starred in the film A Place to Hide.
Her last feature film role, which followed a hiatus of more than two decades, was in Night of the Warrior (1991). It co-starred her son Lorenzo Lamas.
She entered the field of astrology in the 1980s, writing a syndicated column and later operating a premium phoneline company. Dahl wrote more than two dozen books on the topics of beauty and astrology.
Dahl guest-starred on episodes of shows starring her son, Renegade and Air America.
Business ventures
In 1951, Dahl began writing for a tri-weekly beauty column for Let's Be Beautiful, a newspaper owned by Chicago Tribune founder Robert McCormick.
In the mid-1950s, Dahl founded Arlene Dahl Enterprises, selling lingerie, nightgowns, pajamas and cosmetics. She invented the Dahl Beauty Cap, a knitted sleeping cap for women.
Dahl began working at Sears Roebuck as director of beauty products in 1970, earning nearly $750,000 annually, but she left in 1975 to found a short-lived fragrance company, Dahlia.{{cite news |date=February 18, 1971 |title=Arlene Dahl: Beauty's Her Lifelong 'Business' |page=C1 |work=Chicago Tribune}}
Personal life
Dahl had six husbands:
- Actor Lex Barker. They met in the early 1950s, wed on April 16, 1951, and divorced the following year (Barker later married Lana Turner).{{Cite web |last1=Byrge |first1=Mike Barnes, Duane |last2=Barnes |first2=Mike |last3=Byrge |first3=Duane |date=2021-11-29 |title=Arlene Dahl, Actress Who Made Beauty Her Business, Dies at 96 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/arlene-dahl-dead-journey-center-earth-1235054140/ |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}
- Actor Fernando Lamas. They married in 1954.{{Cite web |date=2021-12-02 |title=Arlene Dahl obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/02/arlene-dahl-obituary |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} In 1958, Dahl and Lamas had their only child, Lorenzo Lamas. Shortly after giving birth to Lorenzo, Dahl slowed and eventually ended her career as an actress, although she still appeared in films and on television occasionally. Dahl and Lamas divorced in 1960.
- Heir to the Fleischmann yeast fortune and oilman Christian R. Holmes.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/arlene-dahl-dead/2021/11/29/9b19b59c-7f0c-11e9-8ede-f4abf521ef17_story.html |title=Arlene Dahl, glamorous red-haired beauty of Hollywood, dies at 96 |date=2021-11-30 |orig-date=2021-11-29 |author1=Adam Bernstein |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}{{WaPoCheckDates}} They married on October 15, 1960, and had one child, Dahl's only daughter, Christina Carole Holmes. She and Holmes were divorced November 29, 1963.{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/14/archives/arlene-dahl-divorced.html | title=Arlene Dahl Divorced | newspaper=The New York Times | date=October 14, 1964 }}
- Russian wine writer and entrepreneur Alexis Lichine.{{Citation needed |date=May 2022}} They were married from 1964 to 1969.{{Citation needed |date=May 2022}}
- TV producer-cum-yacht broker Rounsevelle W. "Skip" Schaum. They were married from 1969 to 1976.{{Cite web | url=https://uk.yahoo.com/topics/arlene-dahl/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACteLSn7EUiJy-1yu3CENwdnZeF3G2EzXDsTPT4YeuzKVhE2ofgbd73Mk84uJXJ39nnnPkKBSxhULFnQMm12GZQJoAfB4ZnVV9haxH46r0rHP8VBtA-sKTH98WJ9UOcDjcXNx6NuLsQ4BML16N5cqUhJWql3ehNMVuWXxQ76Qvt7 | title=Arlene Dahl - News, Photos, Videos, and Movies or Albums | Yahoo }} Her second son, Rounsevelle Andreas Schaum, was born during this marriage.{{Citation needed |date=May 2022}}
- Packaging designer Marc Rosen. They were married from 1984 until her death. She divided her time between New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida.{{Cite web |title=Designer fashion charity sale in downtown West Palm Beach |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/theater-and-arts/sf-designer-fashion-posh-charity-sale-west-palm-beach-20130220-story.html |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=Sun Sentinel|date=February 20, 2013 }}
She has nine grandchildren (including AJ Lamas and Shayne Lamas) and two great-grandchildren.
She died in her Manhattan apartment on November 29, 2021, at the age of 96.{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Arlene Dahl, Actress Who Made Beauty Her Business, Dies at 96 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/arlene-dahl-dead-journey-center-earth-1235054140/ |access-date=November 29, 2021 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |date=November 29, 2021}}{{Cite web|last=Saperstein|first=Pat|date=November 29, 2021|title=Arlene Dahl, Actress in 'One Life to Live,' 'Journey to the Center of the Earth,' Dies at 96|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/arlene-dahl-dead-one-life-to-live-lorenzo-lamas-1235121434/|access-date=November 29, 2021|website=Variety|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Jamieson|first=Wendell|date=November 29, 2021|title=Arlene Dahl, Movie Star Turned Entrepreneur, Is Dead at 96|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/movies/arlene-dahl-dead.html|access-date=November 29, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role |
|---|
| 1947
| Rose Donovan |
| rowspan=2|1948
| Tillie Smith Oliver |
| A Southern Yankee
| Sallyann Weatharby |
| rowspan=2|1949
| Gloria Conovan |
| Reign of Terror
| Madelon |
| rowspan=4|1950
| Ambush | Ann Duverall |
| The Outriders
| Jen Gort |
| Three Little Words
| Eileen Percy |
| Watch the Birdie
| Lucia Corlone |
| rowspan=2|1951
| Lily Douvane |
| No Questions Asked
| Ellen Sayburn Jessman |
| 1952
| Christine Barclay McAllister |
| rowspan=5|1953
| Morjana |
| Jamaica Run
| Ena Dacey |
| Sangaree
| Nancy Darby |
| Here Come the Girls
| Irene Bailey |
| The Diamond Queen
| Queen Maya |
| rowspan=2|1954
| Carol Talbot |
| Bengal Brigade
| Vivian Morrow |
| rowspan=2|1956
| Dorothy Allen |
| Wicked as They Come
| Kathleen "Kathy" Allen |
| 1957
| Sarah Moreton BranwellReleased in the United States as She Played with Fire (1958) |
| 1959
| Journey to the Center of the Earth | Carla Göteborg |
| 1964
| Doris Reid Weaver |
| 1967
| Les Poneyttes | Shoura Cassidy |
| 1969
| Laureen |
| 1970
| Martha Cardenas |
| 1991
| Edie Keane |
| 2003
| Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There | Herself |
=Television work=
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1953–1954
| Host | |
| rowspan=2|1954–1955
| Ilsa Lund | Episodes: "Casablanca" and "September Affair" |
| The Ford Television Theatre
| Mary McNeil/Jody Hill | 2 episodes |
| 1958
| Opening Night | Host | (canceled after a few weeks) |
| 1963–1965
| Princess Kortzoff/Eva Martinelli/Gloria Cooke/Maggie French | 4 episodes |
| 1965
| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Valerie | Episode: "Perilous Time" |
| 1971
| Connie | Television movie |
| 1976
| | Episode: "Sand Trap" |
| 1979–1987
| Monica Cross/Natalie Martin/Ellen Kirkwood/Jessica York | 4 episodes |
| 1981
| Amelia Shelby | 1 Episode |
| 1981–1984
| Lucinda Schenk Wilson | |
| 1995–1997
| Renegade | Virginia Biddle/Elaine Carlisle | 2 episodes |
| 1995
| Lady Lucille | |
| 1999
| Cynthia Garland | Episode: "Eye of the Storm" |
Radio appearances
| class="wikitable" | ||
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Broadway Playhouse | "No Man of Her Own" |
| 1953 | Stars over Hollywood | "Remember Bill" |
Bibliography
- {{cite book |title=Always Ask a Man: Arlene Dahl's Key to Femininity |url=https://archive.org/details/alwaysaskmanarle00dahl |url-access=registration |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=Englewood Cliffs |year=1965 |oclc=4511224}}
- {{cite book |title=Arlene Dahl's Lovescopes |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill |location=Indianapolis |year=1983 |isbn=0-672-52770-7}}
- {{cite book |title=Beyond Beauty |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |year=1980 |isbn=0-671-24555-4}}
Notes
{{Reflist|group=note}}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite book |title=Chase's Calendar of Events 2013 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |edition=56th |page=403 |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-07-180117-1}}
{{cite magazine |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20089742,00.html |title=Arlene Takes Her Sixth Husband Or: It's So Nice to Have a Young Man Around the House, Dahl-Ing |magazine=People |first=John |last=Stark |volume=23 |issue=3 |date=January 21, 1985}}
{{cite web |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0105/09/lkl.00.html |title=Arlene Dahl Shares Her Horoscope Insights |work=Larry King Live |via=CNN.com |date=May 9, 2001 |access-date=March 20, 2011}}
{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2722517/the_decatur_daily_review |title=Better Radio Programs for the Week |work=Decatur Sunday Herald and Review |last1=Kirby |first1=Walter |page=40 |date=May 31, 1953 |access-date=June 30, 2015 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}
}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|6428}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{discogs artist|Arlene Dahl}}
- [http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/arlenedahl.html Arlene Dahl profile] at Brian's Drive-In Theatre
- [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=5548 Photographs and literature] at Virtual-History.com
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Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American soap opera actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Actresses from Minneapolis
Category:American businesspeople in retailing
Category:California Republicans
Category:New York (state) Republicans
Category:American relationships and sexuality writers
Category:American people of Norwegian descent
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Category:University of Minnesota alumni
Category:Writers from Minneapolis